Continuous-type spaghetti drier



2 1953 c. HUMMEL CONTINUOUS-TYPE SPAGHETTI DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 28, 1949 lNI/ENTOR.

pm 1985 c. HUMMEL CONTINUOUS-TYPE SPAGHETTI DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 28, 1949 Jan. 29, 1 952 c HUMMEL 2583,84?

CONTINUOUS-TYPE SPAGHETTI DRIER Filed April 28, 1949 4 Sheet s-Sheet 5 Jan. 29, 1952 CfHUMMEL CONTINUOUS-TYPE SPAGHETTI DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed April 28, 1949 Patented Jan. 29, 1952 GONOUSw-TYPE SP'AGH ETITI. DRIER ()harles Hummel; Uzwil, Switzerland, assignor to Gebriider-Biihler, Uzwil; Switzerland;

ApplicatiomApcil-fi8, 3.9 19; SeriaLNo. 80,225. In. Switzerland November 22,1938.

lai (01. 34i205=) tents mustbe lowered by drying. to approximately 13%. To such end, drying cabinets have been used,,ifnn which the. suspended spaghetti are slowly dried in heatedaih.

Such conventional drying cabinets. however, are two and require considerable, manual handling. in charging, and. discharging, Further, the. drying. operation in. these cabinets is. relativel'v difficult and requires considerable, attention and care from the part. of the operatives, since such operation. has to be adapted not. only to the. articles. to be dried, but also to the prevailing atmospheric. conditions,

Thus, there exists a. substantial need. for effooting such drying. operation in. a. purely mechanical? way and manner. in order to eliminate themanualhandling. of the spaghetti.

To such end, the drier according to my present invention comprises an automatic hanging device having. an. endless chainanda plurality of. spaced rods. secured to. said chain for receiving. the. spaghetti issuing. from the dough extrusion press, a drying. compartment having, at least one pair of drying-chains. by means of which. the, said rods with the. hanging spaghetti are moved in 511C665.- sionthrough the said compartment, transport means. adapted to: payout the said. spaghettidressed rods from the said hanging, device. on to to said. drying-chains, and. further: transport means adapted. to deliver the said. rods after having passed through. the said. compartment on to a. delivery chairn.

'ljhe. said. compartment suitably is. provided with a plurality of superj-acent drying-chains and is subdivided into. chambers. extending. transversely ofi-the direction. of movemcntof the said chains; each said chamber being provided. with a fan and heating means for producing optimal conditions for drying in the respective chamber.

One form of my present invention is shown, by: way of example, in the accompanying drawhis... in which-- :Fig. 1 shows; a schematical longitudinal section through the entire arrangement,

Fig. 2; in a. larger" scale, a vertical section on the-lineII-II of Fig: 1,

Fig; 3: a vertical; longitudinal section through the delivery slide of the arrangement,

4' avertical". cross-section on the line lV-- IV'of-Fig;

Fig; 512 a. horizontal section on the line V-V of Fig. 4",

Figs. 6+8 show acutting-mechanism associated with the hanging device, in. a. side View, top plan view and perspective view respectively, and

Figs; 9 and I0. in plan and vertical section on the line Xj-X. of Fig. 9 respectively and in larger scale; the cutting-mechanism disposed. below the extrusion dies of thedough press.

The spaghetti are extruded. in the form. of strings 2 through dies. I}. The hander. device A serves for mounting. or suspending the extruded, spaghetti. strings astri'd'e. of rods 6,. and comprises. two endless. conveyor chains, t provided with spaced bracket. means 5 for the, ends of, the rods. 6.. The bracket. means 5. are. pivoted to. the. said, chains. 4. and weighted. so that-in respective of whether the. said chains 4. run in a vertical. or. horizontal direction-they always assome such.- a. position .that their recessed bearing portions. 1. for receiving. the said rods. i. are situated' on top. Each chain. 4 isso. guided through sprocket. wheels. 8. that each rod. 6 entering into the. hanger A. on the. horizontal stretch to. of the chain 4. hits. against. the. extruding spaghetti strings. approximately at. midlength thereof. The extruding spaghetti; strings, therefore, are. taken along by the rodsli, adhering thereto in the moist state. A knife. t0 (Figs. 9, 10..) now enters. into operation cutting the. spaghetti strings below the dies; I, whereupon. the. cutsofi; portions. drop to constitute. the. second legs. of thesnashettis which now hang in u-Iorm from the rod.

As shown in 9 and. 10, the said knife iii secured to a, slide H1 guided in. a rail 12 which also formsabracketfor the dies L, The slide i4 is. secured to. an endless. chain 13, running over the sprocket wheels l4. and driven through an electric motor t5. In. order. to ensure that the extruding: spaghetti strings; 2. are. cut approximately to equal lengths, the movement of the knife HI has; to be.- synchronized to the speed, of delivery of the. extruding: spaghetti and, further, to relate; the operatin peed. of. the. conveyor chains; 4 to that of the knife? Ill. The said motor the thrown on by asprocket. wheel 8 of the conveyer chain 4', the circumference. of wheel 9; cor responding to; the distance between two consecutive rods It on the said chain. An, arm 16 is secured tothe hub of said sprocket. wheel 8 and on crates a switch 1 1 and; thus, a relay [8 at each revolution of the wheel 8. The knife. I 0: is. quickly run underneath and along the die and severs the spaghetti strings 2, whereupon it returns on the chain l3 into its initial position. The motor i5 is positively thrown out by means of the worm gear I9, 20 mounted on the motor and coniprising a cam 2| which actuates the cut-out 22 and, thus, the said relay [8. The transmission ratio of the said worm gear is so chosen that the worm wheel 20 performs one revolution for each revolution of the chain |3. The speed of extrusion of the spaghetti may be regulated by varying the rotary speed of the worm which press the dough through the extrusion press.

As seen in Fig. 1, the horizontal stretch 4a of the conveyer chains 4 is followed by a vertical stretch 4b on which the rods 6 are raised through a distance which approximately corresponds to the length of the depending legs of the U-shaped spaghetti strings mounted on the said rods.

In the following horizontal stretch 4c of the chains 4, the lower ends of the suspended spaghetti strings arrive within the range of a second cutting device including a knife 23 for cutting the spaghetti to uniform length. Such second cutting device is shown in Figs. 6-8. The spaghetti end-portions are caught in a rack 24, and the knife 23 slides along the underside of the latter. The knife 23 is secured to a slide 24 in a manner similar to that described above in connection with the knife l0, which slide is moved along the rack 24 on a guideway 21 through an endless chain 25 and sprocket wheels 26. One of the said sprocket wheels 26 is driven continuously through a motor 28. I

The waste portions cut off the spaghetti ends, drop into a hopper 9 from which they are transported on a band 9' to a point where they are cut up and returned into the mixing or kneading trough of the dough-press.

The loaded rods 6 thence are moved further onward in the vertical portion 4d of chain 4 and over the sprocket 29, and downward in the other vertical portion 4e 7 of chain 4. During such downward movement, the rods 6 are lifted from the bracket means 5, through lifting and conveying means, and delivered to drier chains.

The drier B comprises three pairs 39, 3| and 32 of drier chains disposed above each other and endlessly moving horizontally over sprockets 33. The said drier chains comprise links 34 which are notched at 35 to form bearings for the end portions of the rods 6. The latter are slowly passed through the drier B and the moisture contents of the spaghetti thus reduced. For such purpose, the drier is subdivided, transversely to the direction of movement of the drier chains, in a number of compartments of which three, viz. 36-33, are shown in the drawing. Each compartment defined by walls, comprises a fan 39 (Fig. 2) and heating means such as for instance electric heating rods 49 disposed above each drier chain. The drying air is circulated, through the fan 39 which is driven from a motor 4|, in the sense of the arrow line indicated in Fig. 2 by dash-and-dot, being heated by the heating means 40. air is sucked in through an adjustable clack valve 42 disposed in the suction space of the fan, and a corresponding portion of spent or moistureladen air may escape through an adjustable clack valve 43 disposed in the pressure space of the fan.

conditions in each compartment. The speed of the cycled air may be regulatedby regulating Fresh the speed 01 the fan. The temperature and humidity of the cycled air may be adapted to the desired conditions in each compartment by regulating the heating means and by adjusting the clack valve 42 and 43. The drier B also may comprise more than three compartments, according to the performance desired of the drying arrangement, and at the outlet end of the drier one or two compartments may be provided which operate without heating and with open valves, i. c. with fresh air, in order to cool the spaghetti in these latter compartments down to the outside temperature before leaving the drier B.

The rods loaded with the dried spaghetti are lifted from the links 34 of the drier chains through conveying means and inserted in the bracket means 5 of the upwardly moving portion 4f of conveyer chain 4. The loaded rods then are inserted, through the downwardly moving portion 4g of chain 4, in the links 44 of a pair of delivery chains 45, and fed by the latter to a point where the rods are taken from the chains 45 and freed from the dried spaghetti. The cleared rods 6 are inserted in the empty bracket means 5 underneath the delivery chain 45, whence they are returned through the horizontal portion 471. of conveyer chain-4 back to the hanging device A (Fig. l), and thus pass through a closed circuit.

The conveyer means for delivering the rods loaded with the damp spaghetti strings, from the chain 4 onto the drier chains 30-32, and the means for lifting the rods loaded with the dried spaghetti string from the drier chains and delivering the same to the chain 4, are built alike. The said two means comprise three pairs of arms 46 (Figs. 1 and 4) disposed one above the other, each pair of arms co-acting with one of the three pairs of drier chains 39-32. To the end of each arm 46, a bracket means 4|similar to the bracket means 5 of conveyer chain 4is pivoted and always held in vertical position through a weight disposed thereon. The arms 46 are secured to shafts 48 which rotate together and thereby accomplish the transport of the loaded rods from the hanging device to the drier and of the loaded rods from the drier to the conveyer chain 4, and through the latter, to the delivery chain 45.

The speeds of conveyer 4, arms 46, drier chains 3032 and of the delivery chain 45 have to be tuned to each other so that the arms 46 make a revolution when the drier chains have been advanced through the distance between two teeth, and the delivery chain has to move through the distance between two teeth when the conveyer chain 4 has moved through the distance between two rod brackets 5.

The entire mechanism is driven through an electric motor 4 (Figs. 3 and 5) provided with a reducing gear, a screw wheel 5| and a worm 52 being mounted on the motor shaft 50. The screw wheel 5| drives a screw wheel 53 which meshes with a screw wheel 54 pinned to a vertical shaft 55.. A further screw wheel 56 is pinned to the upper end of shaft 55 and meshes with a screw 7 wheel 51 through which one of the sprockets 58 of conveyer chain 4 is actuated. Three further screw wheels 59 are pinned to vertical shaft 55 and mesh with screw wheels 60 on the shafts 48 of the arms 46 to rotate the latter about the shafts 48. As shown in Fig. 4, the said vertical shafts 55 with their screw-wheel drives areprdvided on each side of the drier. The worm52 of shaft 50 drives a worm wheel 6| which drives the sprocket 44 of drier chain 32 through a twin reducing gear comprising the spur wheels 62-65. From spurwheel 65 of drier chain 32 are driven the spur wheels 65 and sprockets 33 of the drier chains 3| and 30 through the intermediate wheels 66. These gear trains also are provided on both sides of the drier and interconnected through a shaft 12,ias may be seen from Fig. 4. Further, a screw wheel 67 is pinned to vertical shaft 55 and drives the sprockets ll of delivery chain 45 through a screw wheel 68 and. a reducing gear 69, 10, similar gear trains again being arranged on both sides of the drier and interconnected by a shaft 13.

As described above, the mounting of the dough strings onto the rods, the transport of the loaded rods on the drier chains, the passage of the loaded rods through the drier, the lifting of the rods loaded with the drier goods from the drier chains, and the delivery thereof to a delivery chain are done entirely automatically. Such an arrangement is distinguished by a very high drying performance, requiring a minimal number of attendants.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by the combination of a drying compartment, ende less drier chains for conveying the spaghetti to be dried through said compartment from a receiving station to a delivery station, endless conveyor 3 between successive rods for cutting off the extruded spaghetti strings into predetermined lengths for automatically loading successive rods with spaghetti strings, means at said receiving station for transferring the loaded rods to said drier chains, means at said delivery station for transferring the loaded rods from the drier chains again to said endless conveyor chains, and means for discharging the loaded rods from said endless conveyor chains.

CHARLES HUMMEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,213,549 Sibson et al Jan. 23, 1917 1,322,813 Parker Nov. 25, 1919 1,495,143 Allsop et a1 May 2'7, 1924 1,640,133 Parker Aug. 23, 1927 2,373,325 Mayer Apr. 10, 1945 

